Tutorials and tips covering a wide range of Ruby on Rails topics.

• DevShed.com: Ruby-on-Rails: Understanding the Basics of Active Record

  Ruby on Rails handles data manipulation with the Active Record, which provides an Object Relational Mapping framework. If these sound a little like foreign words to you, keep reading; you'll find that the way RoR handles ORM is a little different, and perhaps easier, than you might see it handled with other languages.
  
  Data and its manipulation is central to any application, whether it is a desktop or web-based application. Data can be represented and manipulated using different techniques.
  
  One of them is the Object Relational Mapping technique or simply ORM. ORM maps the relational tables to the object oriented classes. ORM frameworks provide the mapping and corresponding object, data manipulation services. In most of the server-side technologies, ORM frameworks constitute a totally different component stack. Hence it becomes the job of the developer to do the groundwork to create a connection between the ORM framework and other frameworks (such as web frameworks).

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• DevShed.com: Getting Started with Ruby on Rails

  Ruby on Rails differs from other technologies in the aspect that, while other enterprise technologies give more stress on configuration, RoR stresses convention, thus eliminating the need for lengthy configuration files based on XML. The base of RoR being Ruby gives it one more advantage, the advantage of working with a Very High Level Language. Above all RoR natively supports Model View Controller architecture.
  
  However the question still remains: how effective and productive is RoR? In the world of web development where every new framework (whether based on Java or any other language) is touted to be the one to revolutionize the web programming paradigm, how can one be sure of authenticity of the claim? In this discussion I will try to present both the sides of RoR and leave the rest to your discretion.

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• Developer Works: Fast-track your Web apps with Ruby on Rails

  Ruby on Rails is a recent entry into the world of Web application development that is rapidly gaining mindshare, even while still in beta versions. Rails succeeds by automating the creation of the most common types of Web applications while not straightjacketing you if you want to add custom or atypical requirements. Moreover, compared to many Free Software libraries that perform individual aspects of a Web application, Rails contains a nicely integrated set of tools for all aspects.
  
  Ruby on Rails is taking Web development by storm. Let's start with a refresher on the underlying technologies:
  

  
  
  • Ruby is the free, simple, straightforward, extensible, portable, interpreted scripting language for quick-and-easy object-oriented programming that, like Perl, sports many features to process text files and perform system-management tasks.
    
  • Rails is a full-stack, open source Web framework in Ruby for writing real-world applications with more ease and less code.
    
  
  Being a full-stack framework means that all layers in Rails are built to work together so you don't repeat yourself and can use a single language from top to bottom. Within Rails, everything (templates to control flow to business logic) is written in Ruby. Rails favors reflection and runtime extensions over configuration files and annotations.
  
  This article details the components of Rails and shows you how it works.

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• The easiest way to add tabbed navigation to your Rails app

  This tutorial explains how to use the Tabnav Rails plugin, a simple and declarative way to define tabbed navigations, easy to use and customizable.

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• Get On Track with Ruby on Rails

  Ruby? Rails? Ajax? Is this cluster of confusing buzzwords swarming around your head like a mob of angry bees? Then fear not, gentle padawan -- Jedi help is at hand! For I, too, was just like you once: confused, jumping at shadows, sinking into the depths of yet another custom Python web framework while softly weeping behind a stack of dog-eared PHP books. But not anymore. Today I build my applications in Ruby on Rails.

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• SitePoint.com: Learn Ruby on Rails: the Ultimate Beginner

  Make your mark in the brave new world of Ruby on Rails! In this action-packed adventure, Patrick provides rock-solid foundations in object oriented programming principles, and a detailed explanation of Ruby syntax. After this comprehensive tour, you'll plunge into the mysterious depths of the Rails framework. You'll emerge enlightened and ready to chart new web application territory.

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• OnLamp.com: Rolling with Ruby on Rails

  Maybe you've heard about Ruby on Rails, the super productive new way to develop web applications, and you'd like to give it a try, but you don't know anything about Ruby or Rails. This article steps through the development of a web application using Rails. It won't teach you how to program in Ruby, but if you already know another object-oriented programming language, you should have no problem following along (and at the end you can find links on learning Ruby).

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